In the food industry, facilities for packaging products, such as food, beverages, and the like, are known to include a plurality of processing lines therein. The processing lines are designed to place the product into an article, such as a container. The containers typically are sterilized prior to being filled with a desired product.
Some filling lines use containers that are made from a flat sheet of web material. The web material typically is made from layers of paper cardboard, plastic and foil that are laminated together. Prior to forming the web material into a container, the web material is dipped into a bath of liquid hydrogen peroxide, dried and formed into the container. Dipping the containers into a high concentrate of liquid hydrogen peroxide (typically at 35% concentration) may result in high residual levels of hydrogen peroxide in the material.
Other processing lines use containers that have a closed end and an open end. The open end of each container is oriented upward to allow liquid peroxide to be sprayed into the container. The container is then rinsed with sterile water. To drain the container, the container is inverted so that the open end of the container is oriented downward. The container is then inverted again so that the open end of the container is then oriented upward to allow for filling with a beverage.
It is desirable to sterilize the containers in a manner that does not require repeated re-orienting of the containers and that reduces the amount of residual peroxide on the container. By simplifying the sterilization of the containers and reducing the amount of residual peroxide on the containers, the time required to sterilize the containers can be reduced.
Recently, the food industry has begun to use hydrogen peroxide vapor to sterilize containers. Hydrogen peroxide vapor has proven to be efficient at sterilizing the containers quickly and at leaving small amounts of residual peroxide on the containers. Some systems provide the hydrogen peroxide vapor from a central source to the plurality of processing lines to sterilize the containers moving therealong. In these systems, the hydrogen peroxide vapor is typically conveyed from the central source simultaneously to each processing line at the same concentration and at the same flow rate.
One problem with a central source of hydrogen peroxide vapor arises when a malfunction occurs along one processing line. A malfunction along one processing line will cause all the processing lines to be shut down until the malfunction is repaired. As can be appreciated, if all the processing lines in the facility are shut down, the output of the facility is reduced and the operating cost of the facility increases. It is therefore desirable to have a system and method for providing a sterilant vapor to one or more processing lines when an event indicative of a malfunction is detected with the system or one or more of the plurality of processing lines.
The present invention provides a system for providing a sterliant vapor to a plurality of processing lines having articles moving therealong. The system includes a plurality of sensors associated with the plurality of processing lines which sensors provide signals indicative of the operation of the system and the plurality of processing lines. A controller is provided for monitoring continuously the plurality of sensors. The controller is programmed to monitor the plurality of sensors to detect an event (or events) that is indicative of a malfunction with the system or with one or more of the plurality of processing lines. If an event is detected, the controller adjusts the operation of the system and/or the plurality of processing lines to provide uninterrupted operation of one or more of the plurality of processing lines.